VERY well stated!

I'll try this one more time, and then quit. By posting the report that the NE was coming out with this story, I was bringing something that was pretty significant to the attention of the board. That's all. At the time, I voiced what I deemed was the proper "for what it's worth, and it's probably not even true" caveats. How that showed "immaturity," is not clear to me. Is it somehow more mature to pretend it isn't happening?

Once his confession (to the affair, not to his paternity of the baby) contradicted his earlier disavowals, I merely responded to the lack of thoughtfulness, which he has also admitted to, or, as he literally put it, his "narcissism."

Sure, like most of us, I've been guilty of that myself, on occasion. But he should have know that he wouldn't get away with it.

Also very true.

Would it have been a killer for a nominee? I don't know that we can say that definitively. It certainly would hurt, but I think most voters are more forgiving. Bill Clinton won in 1992 despite having admitted infidelities. The vast majority of Americans don't seem to care that McCain may have. Whether Edwards would have been damaged beyond repair is hard to say ...

I find it astounding to listen to the talking heads all over the media positively apoplectic, outraged, at John Edward's shameful private conduct. As I listen to them and the weasel from the NE who recounted with glee and pride how he hunted him down; I want to vomit. They pontificate on how this is a betrayal of trust and how his populist message of concern for the poor and wanting a better shake for the middle class, healthcare and the like, is now discredited. All because he lied trying to hide his shame.

I wonder how much scrutiny anyone's life could stand? I wonder how much scrutiny the pompous talking head's lives could take? And while on the subject of the so-called "journalists," who are wallowing in every detail and hot on the trail of every aspect of this story, I wanted to shout at the screen (and did); Where were you guys and your reporter's "nose" when a Presidency was stolen? When the president ignored the warnings before 911, let Osama go afterwards, and lied a country into war at the cost of uncounted lives and national treasure? Major crimes by the Bush Administration as long as your arm get almost no coverage. Do they hound Bush and Cheney wherever they go?

I guess this is the level of their courage and integrity, journalistically at least. Edwards cannot retaliate against them so they can be agrressive going after him while cowering whenever the boy king or Darth Vader gives them a dirty look. I consider the source when listening to these cowards.

thank bill clinton

by his shifting his major crimes into just sex, he made it impossible for anyone to impeach 'Bush]

and blame Hillary for this one...she knew and it came out...that is equivielant to blackmail if it can be proven

she should be impeached as senator

too bad the msm is not as good as the national enquirer

as said, tomorrow moring I will buy a subscription and tell them I am buying it instead of just reading it to thank them for their investigative work
maybe other papers can do the same

about time all on both sides who go against the oaths of office and oaths of office they want to be taken down

You cannot make your life on being the greatest love story of all time, only to find out it was a Charade.

John Edwards is now as vile as Newt Gingrich and Trent Lott and John McCain


If John Edwards had nothing to hide, he had nothing to fear.

The hypocracy is amazing as people think nothing of putting the republicans down when they do something.
Toss em all out.

I think better of the dog who craps on the street than of the dog who sniffs it and then eats it.

Peg, I am not excusing his lying or his taking the chance of not being exposed. As he has said himself his ego made him think he was invulnerable and yes, his choosing to run was a mistake given that the prevailing thought today is there are no limits to what we believe we have a right to know. I wonder if he lied because he wanted to protect Elizabeth from exactly what is happening now. That may not be the case but I do believe the man cares for his wife. Powerful men attract women easily. More fall prey to the mindset that they can have it all than we can even imagine. I deplore the fact that we feel we have the right to delve into their private lives as we do. We don't place them in bondage when we elect them. Did FDR's or JFK's dalliances make them ineffectual in leadership? Even Bill Clinton still did his job in the midst of that witch hunt and impeachment. In invading their private lives we punish the families as much or more than the politician. I believe that is wrong.

she knew in 2006 trou.

and who knows if this was the first time

anytime a dumb male gets caught, they say its the first time

almost always, it isn't

there was no witchhunt on Bill Clinton. He was guilty. He shifted the guilt from the important stuff to the sex

Why not sacrifice them and then America can be free again. You can't only clean up 1/2 the s&it you gotta
clean up all of it

How possibly can it be done otherwise?

I am watching the Nightline interview

If I were on a jury, let's just say, John Edwards would not want me on his jury
Let's just say he was sweating more than Nixon in the Nixon/Kennedy debate in 1960

What exactly was he doing in her hotel room a few weeks ago?

something sure smells bad.

Well, I guess the public is getting a break from Obama.

:patpatpat: Please don't visit the local high schools even pre Clinton.... I'm pretty sure they taught Bill.

You know, only in the US would this story make such a big commotion.. and the non-straying spouse always seem to catch the brunt of the publics anger..

Actually, as I sit and think about it - Why isn't anyone as least somewhat outraged at Rielle Hunter/Lisa Druck who I consider a pretty vicious little bimbo in my book. I mean where were her morals and scruples along the way. Not that we'd hold her to the same high standard as John Edwards - but still, she knew Elizabeth was sick, she knew he had children and she knew he was married.

Is his political career over - I have no idea. But if Ted "I tried to save her" Kennedy can make it back... then anyone should be able to.

ah the old Edwards double standard
if in doubt smear other people
so 2004 during the veep wars. so Clintonesque SO PASSE.
so blame the victim

So she ain't running for president though Edwards might have gone up to her room to strongarm her into submission...did anyone check for bruises?

Seems he may just have been doing something in that room that coould get a black man arrested (as it sounds like the same exact situation OJ Simpson went trhough

After all, he bursts into her room to get something back
Just like OJ

Edwards was trying to get back his political career
OJ was just trying to get back his stuff

As the world turns...it sure is ugly!

hush money...God, tv can't write scripts as dumb as this one.

All judgment is self-judgment.

btw-
did you hear Edwards doing a legal parse about the kid and the picture

cue up Ralph Kramden hummena hummena hummena hummena hummena

he never swore that wasn't him or the baby in the picture.
parsing words
so clintonesque

what gall, what nerve
watch nightline though normally I don't watch ABC news.

Why wouldn't a person in Edwards' position insist on using birth control? Aren't most women in their 40s savvy enough to be using birth control? Was she trying to get pregnant? Actually, it would be difficult for a woman in her 40s to actually get pregnant.

Besides the obvious regret - my next biggest regret about JE doing this is that forever more you will need 6 more inches of signature space to spew your opinions forever more about Bill and John.

You are assuming it's his child, yes?

Last I heard, Andrew Young who supposedly was named as the father at one point(though his name is NOT on the birth certificate), was black (and 76 years old).

It would seem simple to tell by sight if the baby was Andrew Young's or not, wouldn't it? In almost all cases.

These people always have fixers don't they?
James Baker, Vernon Jordan, Andrew Young... it's so odd...

Is Andrew Young married?
and if so, what does his wife think about this?

You make valid points, CO. Certainly, cheating on one's spouse does not mean that a person can not be an effective leader. As you mentioned, FDR, JFK, Clinton are all examples of that. Also, I believe the public, as a whole, is very forgiving of these type indiscretions...marital discord issues.
And then we have the media that will publish or air just about anything to increase their readership or ratings.This was not true during the days of FDR and JFK. But anyone running for elected office today understands the nature of the media...their lives are fully exposed and then some. And the political opposition will use everything negative, even untruths, to try and bring their opponents down. Clinton was aware of this...Edwards is aware. So, when a politician is aware that any personal "dirt" will be heard around the world it makes one wonder why they choose the route that will hurt them, their families and their political futures. I would rather not know of public figures' marital infidelities....I too believe it's a personal issue. BUT, the reality is, with something like the Edward's affair, if he had been the nominee, the republicans would most likely bring him down with the 'dirty goods" on him.
Is it fair...is it right..no. But that's the way it is in the U.S. today... a swing to the right with "moral" issues.

Oh, please, G4A. Spare me the righteous indignation. You're just happy that something happened to somebody you don't like. If this were to happen to Obama, for example, you would be spinning a completely different story about how it doesn't matter.

Oh, I doubt that. He'd be using it to prove Obama is a real man. I bet if Obama's camp ever read G4A's ramblings they'd be looking for a muzzle.

I don't know. Has he explained why he went to visit her at the Beverly Hilton?

or wanting to show him one

As do I.

G4A - I was reading this thread and stopped right here. Familiar words if you have read my posts.
In this case, I agree with you completely and absolutely.

It is the fraud and lies. For me it is the sex too. I am more troubled by Edwards behavior and attempted cover up, and
the hurt to his family, then I ever was about Clinton.

Maybe it IS about the romance. It is about using his relationship. Just wanted to let you know.

I'll read on now.

Oh hells bells Graham...

I'm now in the middle of page three on this thread. I have to admit you had me for a moment
and I responded...Then you lost me. There was a post in there where you actually attacked
Elizabeth.

IH, I do see your point...remember I'm to page three here. Sorry for the dialog but I don't
know how to do multiple quotes.

Amy and Betty, for what it is worth, what you both have to say rings true for me.

As for me, I am really shaken by Edward's tell all. Maybe it's because I supported him not
only in 2004, but in this recent election.

Now I'm here...Very low blow IH! That is beneath you.

IH - you are a fine man. You owe someone we both know a huge apology. Again IMHO.
I'm reading through here responding as I go along. If anybody doesn't like it, well tell me.
It's the best I can do with the techy stuff I got.

I can imagine how you would try and defend Bill and Hillary if this happened to them

ooops, it did 100s of times

as I said then IT IS NOT THE SEX THAT BILL CLINTON GOT CAUGHT ON

It's the sex that was shifted to so they stopped looking into the high crimes Bill Clinton committed and had disappear

Look at Eliott Spitzer
Nobody ever thought he had a fairy tale marraige
You know what, I lived in NY and its funny- I did not even know Eliott was married, not once did you ever hear about his wife and kids, I could have sworn he was gay. He always attended
functions alone in NY or with other guys...never with his family.
And as we all know, his sexual problems were the least of his worries aren't they?

another two bit phony who people were mislead to think was a goody two shoes Eliott Ness who rode in to save the day. BUT never a fairytale romance.

On the other hand, I do have sympathy for the sex part about Jim McGreevey, however, like Bill Clinton, the sex part coverred up his real high crimes...Jim would have been
impeached had he not quit a few months after...nobody remembers, and Jim by pleading he was gay (the final part of Jim's divorce with his wife is coming early next week I believe),
he will be able to come back a few years from now

What a shame- the democrats had now 4 people who could have been something who all had major scandals.
Alot of people thought Eliott Spitzer would have made a great VP this year.

But the difference between John Edwards and Eliott and Jim McGreevey and Bill Clinton is- noone in their right mind ever thought any of the 3 had a storybook romance that made their life.

And I for one would like to know did Edwards strongarm this woman? Because you don't bust into someone's hotel room and bribe your way out.

His story, can anyone not say, about his close personal friend buying her out without his knowledge just doesn't pass the sniff test.
It is as convinenant a back story as they have given the thraxxman.

I believe official stories are true NEVER until actual proof is shown.

And this one does not pass my nose test, same as 9-11 official story, same as WACO, same as Oklahoma, same as JFK shooting, same as RFK same as MLK same as Paul Wellstone
same as Bill Clinton's reason.

And same as Al Capone who they caught on Taxes. Yeah, Al Capone's only crime was forgetting to do some of his taxes. I got a nice empty prison in the San Francisco Bay to sell you
if you believe that one
BTW-when I was there the tourguide said they used to tell people there were sharks in that water so the criminals didn't attempt to escape
There were none, but only a few people tried to escape and only 4 I think ever did.

John Edwards is what is wrong with America today.
And I want to know who leaked this story. Because it reeks of blackmail and power and abuse and more blackmail and payoffs and hush money
Sounds like the Godfather is tame compared to this story of the last 28 years in America
The Godfather was a fictional movie
What has happened to America is real.

Thanks Bill-for helping unveil it...Hope if anyone thought Hillary should still get the VP this nipped that in the bud. Thankfully it nipped John Edwards in the butt.

As Paul Simon said-
Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio, a nation turns its lonely eyes to you

gone to graveyards everyone
when will they ever learn,
when will they ever learn as Pete Seeger wrote, years before Paul wrote his plea

Heaven help us had this story broke a month later, after Edwards was picked as VP
Remember what they did to Eagleton? Remember what that did to US?

How in God's name do people lie like they do in politics?

Toss them all out.
Ralph Nader was correct. Start at the top, go straight to the bottom, and toss every single one of them out...at most two or three good ones will be included in the rest of all of them

(and in other news...Cindy Sheehan has qualified for the ballot...maybe today there is symetry and there is a God after all...Good luck Cindy...break Pelosi...tell these arrogant sons of kvetches
we won't take this crap any longer

out with all of them.

Graham - This last post of yours is absolute nonsense. I mean really. Maybe you should go to bed.
Did you even get any sleep tonight?

I'm gonna leave and try to proces what I think about this whole mess and how it relates to
my own feelings about our current election. Does it matters at all to what we are facing now?

instead of the put down,

why not tell me paragraph by paragraph what part you find nonsense

We are just old violins left on a shelf, somebody pulls us out and plays us (to paraphrase the great Johnny Paycheck song).

btw-
Where have you gone Paul Simon?
you used to say alot back in the 1960s
You got old and fat and liked the fact that people on all sides buy your albums
So your political voice got muted.

Shame on you Paul Simon.
Shame on you.
Shame on you for shutting up, and shame on your petty fight with Arthur that you never quite got over.

Pete Seeger should give you a slap.
Pete is now 89 and still pi$$ing people off who don't agree with him
Not once thinking about will this new cd sell or not

I thank God this did not happen one month later...can you imagine if McBush brought this info out then(even though McClain is guilty of the
same arrogance with his first wife, that John Edwards is here...but McCain and his first wife did not make their name on a fairy tale romance
that was a marvel for all to see.

It is akin to finding out Ward cheated on June. Or Mike cheated on Carol. God forbid.

Oops I missed this from Peg:



You did - and it is!

Very sad, John Edwards has shown himself to be very low, but still ten times the person that graham shows himself to be.

Elizabeth's statement: Stop the 'voyeurism'

She posts a statement on DailyKos:

Our family has been through a lot. Some caused by nature, some caused by human weakness, and some – most recently – caused by the desire for sensationalism and profit without any regard for the human consequences. None of these has been easy. But we have stood with one another through them all. Although John believes he should stand alone and take the consequences of his action now, when the door closes behind him, he has his family waiting for him.

John made a terrible mistake in 2006. The fact that it is a mistake that many others have made before him did not make it any easier for me to hear when he told me what he had done. But he did tell me. And we began a long and painful process in 2006, a process oddly made somewhat easier with my diagnosis in March of 2007. This was our private matter, and I frankly wanted it to be private because as painful as it was I did not want to have to play it out on a public stage as well. Because of a recent string of hurtful and absurd lies in a tabloid publication, because of a picture falsely suggesting that John was spending time with a child it wrongly alleged he had fathered outside our marriage, our private matter could no longer be wholly private.

The pain of the long journey since 2006 was about to be renewed.

John has spoken in a long on-camera interview I hope you watch. Admitting one’s mistakes is a hard thing for anyone to do, and I am proud of the courage John showed by his honesty in the face of shame. The toll on our family of news helicopters over our house and reporters in our driveway is yet unknown. But now the truth is out, and the repair work that began in 2006 will continue. I ask that the public, who expressed concern about the harm John’s conduct has done to us, think also about the real harm that the present voyeurism does and give me and my family the privacy we need at this time.

Graham, the sad thing is that I really don't think you are going for Most Outrageous Statement of the Year Award, but this certainly would be a worthy entry.

He betrayed Elizabeth. She was the victim. She as victim had no obligation to come forward and make this public, thus increasing her pain and that of her kids.

If I were Al Gore I would repay your praise by telling you where you could go!

God, what will come out next week, the week after, the week after that

I do hope that they are watching every step he takes
Every breathe he takes
Every move he makes

All of a sudden, the man who wanted to be president and vice president and attorney general and lied
and lied and lied wants to be left alone

God that is funny.

He loves the cameras. John Edwards without the fame is nothing at all

May the press hound him forever.

Because he has daily inflicted his lies on America for more than a decade

There was a reason Al Gore did NOT pick him as VP in 2000.
There was a reason America did not pick him in 2008.
There was a reason he was a major disappointment as VP (ranking up there with Dan Quayle in 2004).

and now he vants to be left alone? Tell it to a judge.

Tell us what strong arm tactics were being used in that hotel room that night

He said on nightline-
He went there to shut her up, to keep her from spilling the beans

IF that is so, it sounds to me that is exactly what OJ Simpson is going on trial for...
IF John Edwards is innocent, then FREE OJ.
There seems to be a major disconnect here...

2 people going into a hotel room to get something of theirs back

Your sanctimony is patently offensive, considering your attacks on Elizabeth for "complicity in the coverup". Since you obviously could got give a rata de cola about her why don't you dispense with the phony statements of concern about her?

I know you think Edwards is horrible, but this "anything goes" attitude concerning your efforts to blacken him are not just despicable, but obviously transparent.

I still like you Graham, but this is not one of your finer moments, to put it mildly!

I do believe IMHO it was either Hillary or Elizabeth that did come forth and give America this story

Blame me, the messenger, sure, blame the Enquirerer

but THANK GOD John Edwards was not the presidential nominee, or the VP

Living in silence for 2 years, while you run for president
(AND John not only ran, he used his wife's illness as part of his campaign, the world always said John said, his wife said
Who does JOhn want
Who does Elizabeth want

While a major lie is out there

I don't know, but I ask the people who on a different thread wanted that nice innocent jolly man who was Osama Bin-Laden's driver
to fry and blamed him for 9-11 and said he should have said something
Well, if that person, who the judge just slapped the Bush administration down with a major light sentence ending in January was guilty
for not revealing what was known, the exact same standard has to be used here

This was a cover-up.

And as the rumors all had Elizabeth in synch with Hillary, was she trying to throw the race to Hillary, because Hillary was blackmailing her?
These are legitimate questions that come from the silence and duplicity

Who cares about the sex?

There are major constitutional questions here dealing with power, blackmail, strongarm (mob like) tactics against a witness

I am just surprised this woman is still alive- the one who had a baby that John Edwards took advantage of.
Where is the sympathy for her?
Just like the same people here found no sympathy for Monicka...seems like a double standard to me.
IMportant John Edwards took advantage of someone younger with stars in their eyes.

I support Obama enthusiastically, but on this point I agree with you 100%!

This story is about US, not about her.
Shifting the story to her, mocks the entire thing.

This is like they say, a story about sex and drugs and rock and roll, and the elite, and yes, black and white issues.

Why is OJ Simpson on trial for doing the same thing John Edwards was doing
Going to a hotel room to retrieve something each thought was his and possibly resorting to strong arm tactics
OJ his memorabillia
John his chance at being VP or President or Attorney General.

Why the double standard in America? Someone please tell me.

I think this should be looked into as a criminal case...there are many issues that are here.

And, what about the young woman's rights?
She is being trashed here something awful, she is being blamed...what about another young girl who was bedazzled by a rich person
with lots of money and power

I do find nobody caring about her to be quite a double standard. After all, she is the main person involved in this.

Graham, I blame you for making some really foul statements. I just don't believe that John Edwards is sitting there in your house forcing you to write this stuff.

Graham is sounding like a scorned lover. Take it with a grain of salt or .. more sensibly. ignore his rantings.

"Moral certainty is always a sign of cultural inferiority. The more uncivilized the man, the surer he is that he knows precisely what is right and what is wrong. All human progress, even in morals, has been the work of men who have doubted the current moral values, not of men who have whooped them up and tried to enforce them. The truly civilized man is always skeptical and tolerant, in this field as in all others. His culture is based on "I am not too sure."
- H.L.Mencken

wrong-o

if this say happened to Evan Bayh and his wife, I would think the exact same thing.

But only if Evan based his entire life and livelihood on a sham story of love like the Edwards
I don't see any fairytale romance in Evan's life, he being more of a Bush43 type of upbringing, or Dan Quayle type of influence and
rich father and elitism with somebody there to bail sonny out when bad times come in.

the point is the Edward's fairy tale love story that made them a power couple was proven to be a sham.
Without that back story, Edwards never would have charmed some to run in the first place.

What was it Rene Zellweger charged Kenney Chesney with on their divorce? Fraud.
That is what the American people are or should be charging today.
Like Dina and Jim McGreevey's.

and to think Spitzer, Edwards, McGreevey, three years ago- all 3 were on the list for possible high level office.

Graham, are you now going to suggest that Edwards is old enough to be this Rielle woman's father (or grandfather?) He is 55, she is 46. Maybe you do come from an alien planet.

Bedazzled, nothing. This woman was old enough to know better. Both she and Edwards did something wrong here. Why say anything else about it? Or has she just announced for President?

Rielle Hunter is a young woman?...she's 44 years old.....just to set the record straight....

If this were JOhn McCain, everyone here would be doing the same thing.
The double standard is amazing.
Or if it was Tim Pawlenty or Eric Cantor or Joe Lieberman or CArly Fiorina or MegWhitman or Mitt Romney or whoever it is up for VP on
the republican side.

This is about power, corruption, use of that power to think one is God.

At just the time America does not need this with constitutional issues aplenty.

Constitutional lovers are scorned here.
By the utter abuse for the people who give their trust to others

Who knows how many votes will be lost because people will say the democrats are the party of these vile happenings?

shifting blame to yapping about me does not change the story.

A criminal case? Get a grip, Graham.

she is the victim.Are you trashing this woman like Bill Clitnon trashed Monicka?

True. I think that's what happened with Gore in 2000...blowback from Clinton's Monica scandal. I don't think this will hurt Obama, though I doubt Edwards will be a speaker at the convention.